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I’ve seen this every January for 30 years. New company budgets, new job seeker enthusiasm. “Let’s put 2011 out of our head and make 2012 a great year.! Good idea – but it takes a little preparation to become an effective idea.
In just a few days lots of people will line up at the job search starting line. The gun will be pointed (hopefully up), the starter will shout those magic words “Ready, Set, GOOO!!!”……… And a few people will shoot out of the starting blocks, down the road and over the horizon. They had a plan.
However from my experience, the minute the gun goes off, the vast majority of job seekers are going nowhere fast. They’ll stand up, look around in confusion and say “gee, I’m not really sure where I’m going. And even if I did know where I was going, I don’t know how to get there.”
Meanwhile, the prepared folk are far ahead of the stumbling pack. They prepared, they have a plan and they’re executing right now. How far behind are you? Call or email us if this sounds like you. We can help. And meanwhile, get your sneakers ready. You’re going to be using them soon.
Inspire hope!
Tim
So after 29 years in the career business I can honestly say, I have never seen pent-up demand for a job change higher than it is today. A side effect of our weak economy has been a strong reluctance by many employees to leave the security of their current organization for the risk and uncertainty of a new job. People fear that as the brand new employee, they would be first on the block to go if things slow down at their new place of employment. And second, if they start a new job and end up not liking their new role, the weak hiring market will make it much harder for them to find yet another position to go to. Thus many people continue to get up every morning and go to work in a job that they really dislike or are poorly suited to do. And many don’t see this paradigm changing anytime soon.
But once it does, WATCH OUT! Employers are going to be walking into their businesses and wonder “where did everybody go???” When the job market finally does loosen up your going to see the largest game of musical chairs ever played. Backfilling positions of people that have left will accelerate hiring demand on our labor force and eventually help the 17% of unemployed persons who have given up searching to return to the workforce.
But it may not be long before the song starts playing. According to a recent study by MetLife’s 9th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends. “Employee morale is at a 3 year low.” That low morale is ultimately going to cause people to say “I don’t care what the consequences are, I’m outa here!!!”
If I were an employer right now, I’d be paying close attention to keeping my employees happy. And maybe staffing up my recruiting department.
Tim Dugger 04-18-11
Career coaching involves testing, and resume writing and training in different areas of how to find a new opportunity. But for me personally, the most rewarding thing I do is help people win back their confidence and self esteem. Often its just a matter of re-framing the “who we are” conversation that is going on in our head. To that end I thought I would share this brief video clip with you. I found it to be quite powerful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU
Inspire hope!
Tim
The Latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Reports
Click on the title below for the individual reports.
Average Duration of Unemployment
Back in the early 90’s I was recruiting for a Quality Manager for Uniroyal in Mishawaka, IN. I’d placed a couple of Ph’D’s there and some other technical manageers and was impressed with their professionalism. One of the Directors (we’ll call him Dan) that I had put in there, called me and needed a QC Mgr. I conducted a search and was particularly pleased with one candidate that I had to present to them. Little did I know.
My candidate (we’ll call him Mark), shows up for his interview at 11:00 in the morning as I had instructed him, and quickly senses something was wrong. After about 15 minutes the Director comes out in the lobby and tells Mark that he had his interview scheduled on his calendar for tomorrow. He realized he had told “the headhunter” (me) to have Mark there at 11:00 today and it was his mistake. He apologized profusely to my candidate but indicated that unfortunately they were right in the middle of a big meeting with a client and Dan couldn’t break away from that. They would need to reschedule his interview.
Now Mark had driven about 4 hours for this job interview and could have projected anger or frustration. But instead, he kept his cool and said something that was magic to their ears. What came out of his mouth was, “How about if I go away for a couple of hours and have lunch. I’ll do a little site seeing. If I come back at 2:00, would that give you enough time to complete your meeting?” Brilliantly simple. Brilliantly effective. Here’s why.
In 20 seconds Mark had demonstrated…
1. Empathy – he quickly digested the situation.
2. Composure – he kept his cool and didn’t react negatively.
3. Tolerance and forgiveness – he accepted someone’s mistake and apology.
4. Adaptability – the ability to “think on his feet.”
5. Problem solving skills – he offered a solution that was win-win for everyone.
In 20 seconds Mark had saved the day. He allowed my employer and his potential future boss to “save face.” He saved having to take another vacation day for himself and the red flags that sometimes go up when someone is taking multiple single days off from work. He even saved the mileage and meal costs the client would have incurred for a second trip for Mark.
But ultimately, maybe the thing Mark had gained the most from his 20 seconds was the upper hand. By being flexible, he had put himself in the position where they now “owed” him. Of course that was never verbalized. But clearly, the obligation had been placed upon my client to extend Mark extra consideration and courtesy.
So what happened you ask? What do you think? Mark showed up back at the plant at 1:45, was hustled in to the conference room, and walked out at 4:30 – job offer in hand. They cancelled the other previously scheduled interviews. And the lesson? All events are neutral. How we react to them determines our future.
Real life stories from Tim Dugger’s “Secrets of a Corporate Headhunter”
